Weddingbee boards

Hi ladies.  So I know we often come on here and rant about vendor issues, but I thought I'd give a compliment to my invitation vendor regarding a situation that could have gone horribly wrong.  So, we picked out our invitations and ordered them 2 weeks ago.  They are very detailed pocket-fold with several matte layers, etc.  Today I get an email from my vendor telling us that the textured paper we chose for the pocket-fold was no longer in production. He was very apologetic, but I was like WHAAAT?  This paper totally made our invitations!  It had a beautiful scroll/paisley design on a metallic, textured paper.  I was beyond disappointed and just plain mad.  I told him I would come up to his store that afternoon to discuss it and possibly have to start all over with a new design. 

So, I get up there this afternoon and he has 3 different options to fix our current design.  Long story short, everything worked out and he was going to custom-design our chosen paper, etc.  To have done this originally would have been a huge upcharge, but he will do it for free because of the hassle.  This is going to add a 4th layer to our original 3 layer design.  It's going to be STUNNING.  In addition, he gave us a 20% off discount off the total AND included envelope liners.  I wasn't rude or demanding that he do any of this, he just did it!  I was beyond thrilled and very thankful for how accomodating he was with everything.  Why can't all wedding vendors be this accomodating when issues arise? 

I bet you're wondering who is this great vendor?? Well, if you live in the Saint Louis area, I highly recommend BY ALICE BOUTIQUE for your wedding invitation and stationary needs.  You can google them to find their locations. 

Thanks for the info!!  Just out of curiousity, what are their prices like?

They're all different prices.  It kind of depends on the design.  I would just go into the store and tell them your budget.  Our invites are very detailed and include a pocket-fold which adds a huge amount to the price.  We ordered 110 pocket-fold invitations with 2 enclosure cards.  They are landscape (not portrait) and very unique.  I'll post pictures of them on here when they come in next week.  So, for 110 invites it was about $850.  Although, that doesn't include all the discounts he just gave us, so it's probably less now.  It's money well-spent, though.  You could probably do a beautiful invite without all the extras for much less.  I can't recommend them enough!!  We went to the store in Chesterfield Mall.  Ask for Joshua.

@zippylef: Yes, they are expensive.  But, I have a very demanding job as does my fiance and there simply is NO TIME to DIY our own invites.  I'm an avid scrapbooker, so I could have done it.  But, I want to keep a bit of my sanity, too.  All of the measurements and details that would be needed for DIYing the invites that I wanted gave me a huge headache.  DIY menus?  No problem.  DIY programs? Easy peasy.  But, invites!?!  They are so intricate and important to me.  I can't tell you how many terrible homemade invites we have received in the past.  I know it doesn't really matter, but it kind of does.  Our invites are the first impression (besides our STDs) that guests will receive.  And, I wanted them to be perfect.  I guess because I know how much scrapbooking stuff costs, I didn't mind spending the money on invites because my 15+ scrapbooks alone have probably cost me twice if not three times more than my wedding invites.  To each their own, I suppose.

@zippylef: Thanks for the reply.  I'm not implying that all DIY invites are cheap and terribly done.  I've seen some beautiful DIY invites here on the bee!!  I wish I had the time to do them myself.  However, I've never received a well-done DIY wedding invite before.  We received one invite where the invitation paper didn't even align properly to the invitation matte.  It was totally crooked and totally horrible.  But, some of the DIY invites I've seen on here are stunning!!

We are getting married at our home church and our reception will be at the Doubletree Hilton in Chesterfield.  What about you?